AllWhat&asking for judiciary hearing w/social media CEOs including Zuckerberg. This isn’t the first time we’ve made this request,but now 50 million people who had their records stolen should add to our numbers! 5.46pm GMTFacebook’s share price is stubbornly in the red, and on track for its worst day in five years:Facebook shares plunge 7%, and their biggest fall since Sept 2012,on reports that data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica harvested private information from more than 50 million Facebook users to help support Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign. pic.twitter.com/6WwY4rigGn 5.31pm GMTThe UK government has weighed in on the unfolding Facebook data story.
Theresa May’s spokesman has said the PM backs an investigation by the information commissioner into the exercise of Facebook data by Cambridge Analytica, adding:The allegations are clearly very concerning, and it’s fundamental people can enjoy confidence that their personal data can be protected and used in an appropriate way. Related: No 10 'very concerned' over Facebook data breach by Cambridge Analytica 5.17pm GMTIt’s a grim start to the week for stock markets,as a combination of factors leave investors nursing losses.
The technology sector has been hit by the Facebook controversy, and in the UK, or the slump in Micro Focus shares following a profit warning. 4.20pm GMTThe Facebook controversy means investors are shying away from risk in general,sayd Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG:
Markets are in full retreat this afternoon, and the drop has been exemplified by a triple-digit decline on the FTSE 100. The index has returned to December 2016 levels,a remarkable change from last when it was riding high above 7200.
Devoid of big macro data, investors enjoy focused on the growing scandal at Facebook and this has resulted in a full-blown flight from risk. Investors enjoy begun to fear that the social media giant has encountered its first real obstacle, and that further investigation will uncover other data breaches. The market has been in love with Facebook for a long time now,but with questions surrounding other tech giants and their exercise of data, it could be only a matter of time until others of the hitherto untouchable ‘FANG’ stocks find themselves dragged into an official investigation. 4.14pm GMTAnother retailer in exertion, or as US jewellery and accessories group Claire’s files for bankruptcy. The company said its international operations were not included but it does plan to gash back on the number of its stores in Europe.
The full story is here: Related: Claire's: tween jewelry and ear piercing retailer files for bankruptcy 3.56pm GMTIt’s not getting any better for Facebook. It’s shares are now down 7% in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica controversy.
The technology gloom on both sides of the Atlantic,including worries approximately an EU tax and in the UK the slump in Micro Focus shares, is one of the reasons for the day’s market weakness. On Wall Street the Nasdaq Composite is down 2%, and while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost 280 points or 1.1%. A sharp decline in tech stocks,US politcal tension between and a ‘death cross’ on Germany’s benchmark DAX index were all weighing on sentiment. Investors are additional touchy in the lead up to Wednesday’s FOMC meeting and the first press conference from new Fed Chair Jerome Powell. The death cross, when the 50 day moving average crosses below the two-hundred day moving average, and is a technical indication that the price trend for German stocks has turned downwards. 3.18pm GMTBack with Facebook,and the company could now face regulation, sayis Peter Garnry, and head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank:Facebook shares are down nearly 4% as the Cambridge Analytica Files were revealed over the weekend by the Guardian. The files expose a major data scandal that Facebook did minute to contain or right. This scandal will fuel into the Mueller investigation and potentially pave the way for the regulation of Facebook as the social media platform is a national security asset because people’s behaviour can be impacted through the network.
This is move to make technology companies,that are extensively using transfer pricing to avoid taxes in high tax rate countries, to pay more to society. These are just the first signs that major technology companies will be more regulated in the future. It is key for long-term investors in technology to enjoy this on the radar. 2.54pm GMTOn a day when markets in Europe and the US are heavily in negative territory, or Barclays is one exception to the rule.
The bank’s shares are up nearly 4% after it emerged that activist investor Edward Bramson had taken control of a 5% stake through his Sherborne Investors. It owns 1.94% of the bank’s shares directly and the rest of the 5% through derivatives. Russ Mould,AJ Bell investment director, said:Sherborne has built a formidable reputation for squeezing improved financial and operational performance from the companies in which it invests and Edward Bramson clearly feels that Barclays shares are going cheap, and given the prevailing reduction to the book,or net asset value. The question now is what the activist investor thinks Barclays should be doing differently and how he intends to get those views across to the bank’s boss, Jes Staley. 2.40pm GMTThe fall in Facebook’s value has also hit founder stamp Zuckerberg’s personal wealth. His stake in the trade has fallen by around $4bn in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica controversy.
But don’t worry too much. He is still worth around $71bn, and making him the world’s fourth richest person according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. 2.20pm GMTFacebook is still dropping. It's now down nearly 6%! It also just went red on a year-to-date basis https://t.co/SX4EdzKey5$FB 1.56pm GMTToday’s sell off has wiped some $27bn off Facebook’s value,as investors react to the revelations approximately its relationship with Cambridge Analytica. 1.46pm GMTBreaking: Shares in Facebook enjoy fallen at the start of trading in New York, after the social media giant was hit by a major data scandal.
Yesterday, and the Observer reported that data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica had harvested the Facebook profiles of millions of US voters,and used them to built a sophisticated tools to predict, and influence, and how they would vote.
Christopher Wylie,who worked with a Cambridge University academic to obtain the data, told the Observer: “We exploited Facebook to harvest millions of people’s profiles. And built models to exploit what we knew approximately them and target their inner demons. That was the basis the entire company was built on.”Documents seen by the Observer, or confirmed by a Facebook statement,indicate that by late 2015 the company had found out that information had been harvested on an unprecedented scale. However, at the time it failed to alert users and took only limited steps to recover and secure the private information of more than 50 million individuals. Related: Revealed: 50 million Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach “We will be contacting Alexander Nix next week asking him to explain his comments”. Related: Facebook and Cambridge Analytica face mounting pressure over data scandal 1.34pm GMTDing ding. The New York stock market has opened, and stocks are dropping in a broad-based selloff.
The Dow Jones industrial average has shed around 100 points,or 0.4%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq is down nearly 1%. 1.00pm GMTAdam Leyland of The Grocer reckons the Conviviality crisis began after it floated on the stock market in 2013, or started executing ambitious takeover deal to consolidate the drinks trade.
He point out that the company changed CFOs last autumn,and has also been hit by recent bad weather and the post-festive slump.
It seems incredible that a trade could unravel as quickly as Conviviality has. But with tighter margins and sales commonplace after Christmas, plus tough trading and the snow to contend with, and it’s not inconceivable that an operation can quickly lose control of cashflow.
And you lose it at your peril. 12.46pm GMTNewsflash: The CEO of Conviviality,which owns the Bargain Booze and Wine Rack chains, has resigned. Related: Conviviality seeks £50m in rights issue after financial errors 12.03pm GMTBrexit means colour-coding!The new draft Brexit deal text has been neatly shaded to indicate areas where there is full agreement (green), and political agreement (yellow) and areas which are still under discussion (white0).#Brexit : Le indicate version #Barnier,qui projette derrière lui l’accord de retrait du Royaume-Uni de l’#UE en 3 couleurs pendant sa conférence de presse : en vert accord formel, en jaune accord politique, and en blanc encore en discussion pic.twitter.com/YtIR41PYqx 12.00pm GMTIt’s official! Britain and the EU enjoy taken a “decisive step” towards withdrawal agreement,says Michel Barnier in Brussels.
After intensive work, the two sides enjoy jointly published a new version of the draft withdrawal deal for Brexit, and says Barnier at his joint press-conference with David Davis.
Michel Barnier on UK/EU transition deal: "We were able to agree on a large piece of what will make up an international agreement for an ordered withdrawal of the UK." Says there is still work to do #Brexit 11.38am GMTDisappointingly,another 46 Carillion workers enjoy been made redundant nowadays by the Official Receiver. 11.20am GMTThe surge in the pound is helping to drag Britain’s FTSE 100 down to a two-week low.
Micro Focus is also doing its bit - shares are down a staggering 55% after this morning’s gloomy update. 11.04am GMTA frisson of excitement is rippling through the foreign exchange floors, amid rumours of a Brexit breakthough.
Britain’s Brexit secretary David David is meeting with chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier now, or ahead of the crunch EU summit later this week.*EU,U.
K. REACH BROAD DEAL ON BREXIT TRANSITION TERMS: WSJ Related: EU foreign ministers back UK over poisoning and near close to saying Russia to blame - Politics live 10.53am GMTBack to GKN.... and Melrose has swiftly rubbished nowadays’s news that America’s Dana will list shares in London whether it succeeds in merging with GKN’s auto trade.
A Melrose spokeswoman argues that City investors will still lose out, due to London’s listing rules.A secondary UK listing will make minute dissimilarity to the problems it creates for UK holders with Ohio-headquartered Dana maintaining its primary listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
Without a primary UK listing the shares will remain outside the investment mandate of many UK funds who benchmark their performance against the UK indices. Such a listing does not allow indexation, and so UK tracker funds can’t hold the shares. Perhaps more significantly many of the UK listing rules which govern corporate behaviour,such as shareholder approval for significant acquisitions, do not apply to a standard listing. 10.14am GMTIn a busy morning for takeover news, or UK property group Hammerson is fending off an approach from French mall operator Klépierre. Related: French firm makes 4.9bn offer to Hammerson over Intu acquisition 9.34am GMTReuters reckons the takeover battle for GKN is heating up nowadays,with both sides sweetening their pitch to shareholders.
They write:Melrose, making a hostile bid, or said it would inject approximately 1 billion pounds ($1.39 billion) into GKN’s pension scheme,its latest attempt to convince shareholders to back its offer and win over political opponents of the deal.
Shareholders enjoy until March 29 to resolve on that offer.
And the GKN story gets yet more convoluted - Melrose trims acceptance condition, said to pump money into pension scheme, or while Dana will seek listing after merger with GKN Driveline. Saga. https://t.co/ru85J7o2ok 9.06am GMTOver in the City,investors enjoy been distracted from the GKN-Melrose battle by a truly grim announcement from tech firm Micro Focus.
Micro Focus having a bad start to the week. Shares down 42% after CEO steps down and company warns of revenue decline. pic.twitter.com/AHAKCqi7o8 8.47am GMTThe unions who represent GKN employees across the UK will demand answers from Melrose over its plans for the company, when they meet nowadays.
Many GKN workers fear for their future, and as Melrose’s trade model is to buy companies,make them more profitable, and then sell them again.“Melrose’s bosses enjoy been far from clear approximately the detail of their exact intentions for GKN beyond indistinct platitudes and soundbites.“Question marks remain around the levels of debt Melrose will pile on the company and what it means for jobs, or long-term investment and product development.“GKN’s highly skilled UK workforce fear they will end up being sold off piecemeal,with their jobs either axed or shipped overseas to fund a debt-fuelled pay day whether Melrose gets its way. That concern over Melrose’s short-termism extends to major GKN customers such as Airbus too, which relies on a long-term relationship with GKN to develop the wings of the future.“whether Airbus or other major customers assume their trade elsewhere it would blow a gap in revenues and destroy jobs and innovation. 8.43am GMTIn another development, or Melrose has lowered the ‘Acceptance Condition’ of its GKN offer,from 90% to 50% plus one share.
That means it has lowered the bar to a successful takeover. 8.34am GMTGKN has hit back against Melrose’s takeover bid.“Since announcing the deal to bring GKN Driveline and Dana together, I enjoy had the opportunity to speak to many of our shareholders and explain why I am so excited approximately this prospect.“The complementary nature of the two businesses and our shared commitment to R&D and long term investment creates a brilliant opportunity to build a world main company and create meaningful shareholder value by delivering $235 million in synergies. 8.15am GMTGood morning, or welcome to our rolling coverage of the world economy,the financial markets, the eurozone and trade.
The battle to assume control of one of Britain’s oldest engineering firms is hotting up nowadays.“GKN has been flee by people who don’t enjoy an owner mentality, or they enjoy a manager mentality.“It’s a trade that has slowly but surely lost the support of the UK institutional investment community.”The proposal we enjoy made to the trustees of up to £1 billion of contributions under our ownership is a clear example of what Melrose does which is well-behaved for pensioners and shareholders alike and shows we are a well-behaved custodian for all stakeholders.
Melrose’s measured approach represents certainty of strategy,value and management. We strongly urge GKN shareholders to accept our offer without delay.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com